


Written in the Stars - Prequel | Marauders Era FanFic

by emerydinh



Series: It Was Written in the Stars [1]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, marauders - Fandom
Genre: Fanfiction, Fate & Destiny, Female Marauder, Fifth Marauder, Gen, Marauders' Era, Missing Marauder, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, female main character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-11-15 12:54:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11231415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emerydinh/pseuds/emerydinh
Summary: "Maybe it's their laughs-the way that whenever they laugh I can't help but laugh with. Maybe it was simply their way of acting; pretending that they had no cares in the world. Perhaps it was just their smiles; their smiles could light up the world, or at least mine. Whatever the reason-whatever the effect-I had become infatuated with them, and I'm perfectly fine with that."What would happen if the Marauders, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, had to face more pain than anyone thought? What if the Marauders had to face life or death situations? What if they also had someone to help? A girl that would be seemingly unimportant, a girl that's never talked about, a girl named Brittany Hathaway. What if this girl made an unthinkable decision that saves the world?This is the story of Brittany Hathaway.





	1. Author's Note: Important

**Author's Note:**

  * For [circlesaremyfavoritecolor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/circlesaremyfavoritecolor/gifts).



**Thank you so much for reading, but please, please, please vote for EVERY chapter. I know it's difficult but it's very important that you** **_vote_ ** **. If you're a writer you'll understand that if I don't get votes than it seems like no one likes it, no matter how many views I get. PLEASE VOTE!!!**

I'd also like to tell you some key things about this book, before you start reading it. For starters I have not finished even this prequel but I'm still going to upload it. I will update approximately once every two wejs, however, the more votes I get the sooner I update, most likely and my editor (shout out to the best person in this world and the person whom this book is dedicated to, my best friend Katelyn). Another thing this is a prequel meaning there's no real conflict going on yet, but there will be in the actual story, instead we just get a lot of friendship, some back story, and a but load of really subtle foreshadowing. Also, I'd like to talk about my writing style, I write about a lot of stuff happening but I don't bother spending that much time on describing how things look because you probably already know about stuff, if you don't like it don't read my story, okay? Don't talk about how you don't like it, because I _will_ block you, you've been warned. I also tweak scenes from the actual story or edit people's personalities a bit (really not very much but a little bit). . . IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, JUST LEAVE!!! 

Oh yes, also my author's notes aren't generally something you have to read, _unless_ , it's in its own separate chapter or at the beginning of the chapter. If there's an author's notes that is one of these please read it. Otherwise feel free to continue on without reading. Thank you.  
  
  


Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all characters except for Brittany. The world belongs to J.K. Rowling, the overall story belongs to J.K. Rowling, J.K. Rowling also owns some specific scenes and dialogue. All I've got full rights to is the exact storyline and Brittany. 


	2. Hogwarts Express

I stand on the platform and look out at the wizards and witches rushing about. That wasn't what most of my attention was on though. My attention was really on the Hogwarts Express. The train that would take me away from my ruinous home life to Hogwarts, the place of my dreams.

"Remember Brittany, no yelling, no screaming, and if I get even one report of trouble I'm taking away your broom. You have no idea how many strings I had to pull so that you could have even this chance of having it, and you are not allowed to get yourself into trouble or else McGonagall will snatch it away from you faster than you'd think possible."

I nod at my mom, pretending to be interested, pretending to care, pretending that her words make a difference. I attempt to manoeuvre away from her—so I can avoid more of her berating.

"NOT SO FAST! I'm not done!" I sigh and turn back towards her. "Make friends, eat healthy, get to sleep on time, don't fail any of your classes—you're smart I expect you to get good grades—and . . ." she hesitates, "take care of yourself."

There are tears welling up in her eyes and she's blinking quickly—trying not to cry. Before I can think I pull her into a hug. She wraps her arms around me and holds me to her, refusing to let go.

"I'm never hugging you again, you know that right?"

She wipes at the tears falling down her cheek before pushing me away.

"Go. . . . Just . . . go."

I grab my and bag start walking away, towards the train. I'm only a quarter of a way there when I hear a quiet, "I love you." My mom's melodic voice is laced with pain. I bite my cheek and feel my steps falter. It takes everything I have not to turn around, not to cry. It takes all my willpower to pretend her words mean nothing to me. But I know that if I show that her words matter to me it'll just cause me more pain later.

Taking a deep breath I continue walking and glance at my watch. It's already 10:45 meaning the train's about to depart, although the majority of the students are still saying goodbye to their families. I run onto the train and into the first empty compartment I can find and pull a copy of "A History of Magic" out and then shove my messenger bag—that contains my shrunken down trunk and broomstick in it—up on the rack with my owl. I lean my back against the wall and lay my feet on the seat next to me as I read.

A few minutes later I hear the compartment door slide open and I look up to see a girl about my age with beautiful long wavy red hair and striking green eyes. She smiles at me kindly, and I can see she's a nice person, but her expression looks stoic and reserved. "Can I sit here?" she asks.

I nod and she puts her trunk on the rack next to my bag. Then she sits down in the corner and tucks into a sort of ball on the seat. She puts her feet up on the seat and rests her chin on her knees and looks towards the wall, almost as though she can see through it to the platform.

I return to my book, but before long the compartment door slides open and a boy walks in with his trunk. He tilts his head at me, as though examining me for a second before asking, "Can I sit in here? There's almost nowhere else that isn't full of higher years."

I nod and this time I close my book when he walks in and throw it towards my feet. He doesn't seem like the kind of person content to just hanging about in silence; he's the kind of person who likes's conversation and I certainly wasn't going to return to my book so he could annoy the poor girl in the corner.

I study him as he puts his trunk on the rack and sits down on the bench opposite me, near the compartment door.

He's got jet black hair that sticks out in almost every direction and he's got sharp features with hazel eyes—a good combination in my mind. He's also got circular spectacles that on some people would be considered ugly, but he somehow manages to make it work. What sticks out, though, is the way he acts. He seems extremely . . . self-assured.

After he was done with his trunk he sat down and leant forward a bit and I moved so that I was sitting directly opposite from him. He makes a small motion towards the girl in the corner and I feel sort of bad for her.

"Is she alright?" He asks in a hushed voice, obviously not wanting to upset her, although she probably isn't an idiot and could probably figure out what we were talking about, even if she couldn't hear.

"I don't know. She came into the compartment like that. I think for now it's best to just let her be," I respond in an equally quiet voice.

Suddenly he leans back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head. "I'm James, and you?" he asks at a normal volume.

I jump in surprise a little bit before leaning back in my seat and answering, "Brittany."

"Well, Brittany, tell me about yourself."

I stare at him for a second. Wondering whether to laugh at him, curse him, or simply ignore him. After another second of deliberation, I decide to do none of the above, settling on instead responding with my own arrogant demands.

"Why don't you tell me why I should tell you about me?"

"Because, Brittany," he drawls out my name, but not in an unfriendly way, "we're sharing a compartment for awhile, so we might as well get to know each other a bit. I mean why not? It's what  _friends_ do."

"Fine, then  _you_  tell me about yourself."

"Well, my name is James Potter, which you already knew, I've got a wand made of mahogany wood. I'm rather fond of quidditch and not so particularly fond of reading and schoolwork."

Just as he's finishing his sentence, the compartment slides open again to reveal another boy with black hair. This one's hair a bit longer and his features seem a bit less sharp. When he glances at me I see his stormy grey eyes and I, for a second, remain entrapped in those eyes. They're  _brilliant_. His eyes hold both a light and dark grey, and the contrast seems to draw me in.

Then he opens his mouth, and without a doubt, ruins whatever nice feelings I was beginning to harbour towards him. "I'm sitting here and you really don't have much of a choice," he announces to the compartment  _really_ arrogantly, and steps in, swiftly closing the compartment door behind him. He lifts his trunk up onto the rack next to James' and then sits next to him.

"My name's Sirius," he announces. "What're your names."

"I'm James and this is Brittany," James says for the both of us.

"Ugh," Sirius says and wrinkles up his nose a bit. "Brittany is so long and formal, couldn't we call you . . . Britt or something?"

"Absolutely not, no way in hell!" I say flatly. "Don't  _ever_ call me Britt."

James laughs a bit and then immediately attempts to cover it with a cough as I glare at him. "He's right you know," James says to me after he's done with his so-called coughing, "Brittany is  _way_ too long and formal. Since we're friends can't you let us call you by a nickname?"

This is the second time he's used the whole "Aren't we friends?" manipulation thing on me in less than 10 minutes of conversation.

"Well, we're not still friends if you're going to continually attempt to blackmail me into doing things such as allowing you to shorten my name. That's not very much in the spirit of friendship, now is it?"

"Alright, then how about we play a game? That's something that friends do."

"How about exploding snap?" Sirius asks, his cloudy grey eyes suddenly shining with excitement. Whether about the idea of playing exploding snap or playing exploding snap with James is really beyond me.

"I don't really feel like playing," I say and I watch as the boys both quickly frown a little then cover it up before I say, "but you guys should play without me."

Sirius and James start playing a rather rowdy game of exploding snap and I turn towards the girl in the corner. She's staring out the window now, onto the platform instead of just the wall. She's sniffling quietly and I can't help but feel like somehow it's my responsibility to make her feel better.

Just as I'm about to say something to her the compartment door slides open and a boy with a hooked nose and greasy-ish black hair walks in and sits in front of her. He's already in his robes so he looks even more odd, especially compared to everyone else in the compartment.

The girl sends a glance at him and then turns back out the window. "I don't want to talk to you," she says stiffly.

"Why not?" I can see he looks hurt by this.

"Tuney h-hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore," there's a little whine to her voice, not like a child complaining, but a whine of someone who's genuinely and rightfully upset and  _actually_ facing a difficult time.

"So what?" I turn towards the boy a bit. How could he be so oblivious? I didn't even know what was going on here or what letter from Dumbledore they were talking about, but even I could tell she was upset by the idea of this "Tuney" hating her.

Apparently, the girl was as annoyed about this as I, because she sent him a withering look. As she glares at him I noticed her green eyes. Really intricate eyes, a deep, hard green that slowly transforms into a softer, lighter colour as it moves closer to the pupil.

"So, she's my sister!" she screeches just loud enough for the boys to notice. They don't exactly stop playing, but now they're paying more attention to their conversation. I feel sort of bad till I realise I'd been doing exactly the same thing.

"She's only a-" he stops himself before he says the word, but I could take two guesses at what he was going to say, muggle or mudblood. I widen my eyes a bit, it wasn't that insulting of a word if he was going to say muggle, but the real problem was that his tone. Deep and disapproving.

I turn towards the girl to see how she reacted. She didn't notice though, as she was too busy trying to wipe her eyes without anyone else noticing.

The boy quickly changed the topic.

"But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" Even I could hear the pure exhilaration in his voice. The girl nodded at him as she mopped her eyes. Perhaps because the boy's enthusiasm was contagious.

"You'd better be in Slytherin," he continued.

"Slytherin?" James asked, his head suddenly snapping towards them. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" James asks, turning towards Sirius.

Sirius frowns a bit and says with an air of sadness, "My whole family's been in Slytherin"

"Blimey, and I thought you seemed alright!"

Sirius suddenly grins, "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where're you heading, if you've got the choice?"

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart' like my dad!" James announces again as he lifts an imaginary sword. The boy snorts a bit and James turns on him. "Got a problem with that?" James demands, almost menacingly.

"No," said Severus, but even through my peripheral vision, I could see that he was sneering. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interrupts. I narrow my eyes and start to feel a bit annoyed at their more than childish behaviour.

The boy fidgets uncomfortably as James howls with laughter. The girl, however, stands up and glares at James and Sirius in complete annoyance.

"Come on Severus, let's find another compartment." She pauses for a second then turns on me, "You're welcome to come with if you want."

I pause, deliberating for a second, but James had said that everywhere else was beginning to get full. "I'd like to, but everywhere else is really rather full. You'll have a hard enough time finding spots for yourselves."

"Fair enough," she responds with half a smile. "My name's Lily by the way."

"Brittany."

"I'll see you later Brittany," she flashes me a brilliant smile for a second before her face falls back into its mask of sadness.

She and Severus both grab their trunks and leave. Along the way, James tries to trip him, but thankfully he fails.

"See ya, Snivellus!" Sirius calls out as the girl slams shut the door.

The second the compartment door is fully closed, I round on them, "What the hell were you doing? Tell me! I can't believe you did that!" I screech at them.

Sirius snorts, "We were just messing around. He wasn't even that upset, it was just that girl."

I turn in my seat to glare at him. He smirks at me for a second before he just sighs. "Fine, I'm sorry. Are you happy?"

"I won't be until you apologise to them too," I say determinedly.

He groans. "Maybe, I'll consider it."

"Arrogant arse," I mutter under my breath.

"Thank you very much."

I sigh and move to rest my back against the compartment walls and rest my feet back on the seat next to me, sitting like I was doing before James came.

I turn my attention towards James. "What about you? Are you going to apologise?"

"I wouldn't count on it," he responds with a smirk settled across his features.

"I wouldn't dare," I respond tersely, hating what he's saying, even though I expected it.

We stop talking for a second, just staring at each other. As we stare the compartment door slides open and another boy is standing there. I glance him over and my eyes are instantly drawn to the scars running across his face. Behind those scars, he has soft greenish eyes and light brown hair that sparkles in the sunlight that's flitting through the compartment window.

He's staring down at his feet as he speaks, "Can I sit in here? Everywhere else is almost completely full."

"Of course," Sirius responds nonchalantly. "I'll help you put up your trunk."

Sirius jumps up and grabs the boy's trunk and takes it inside the trolley. Together they hoist it onto the rack and then Sirius sits down again. I can't help but wonder what caused the sudden change in behaviour. One second he was behaving like a rude bully, the next he was a perfect gentleman.

"Better sit on this side of the compartment, mate. Britt might kill you if you force her to move," James says and moves so that there's room for Remus. I feel slightly bad that I'm taking up an entire side, but they don't seem to mind.

"Well, what's your name?" Sirius asks.

He mumbles quietly, "Remus."

"Right well I'm James. That arrogant one there is Sirius, and she is Miss extremely formal Brittany. Not Britt, Remus, don't make that mistake. It's Brittany."

The train whistle blows then—James must be so thankful because if it weren't for that I'd kill him—and the boys turn towards the window and wave goodbye towards their parents, all of them except Sirius. I catch his eyes and raise my eyebrows.

Sirius sighs, "I could ask the same of you."

I roll my eyes at him and don't bother explaining that I know that my mum disapperated at least 10 minutes ago. Instead, I say, "I didn't even ask you anything."

"Is that a joking tone I hear from Miss Extremely Formal?"

"Absolutely not."

James slumps back into his seat when the platform is out of sight. "Is it just me, or is it sassy in here?" he smiles mischievously and fans himself with a book. Specifically, my book.

"How did you get that?" I narrow my eyes at him, patting the spot where my book was. James barely keeps himself together he's laughing so much.

"Oh, this? I was enjoying a very lo-"

I snatch the book from his hand and hold back from rolling my eyes at him again.

"I will curse you."

His eyes narrow, challenging me, "You. Wouldn't. Dare."

I flick my wand out of my sleeve and twirl it around in my fingers. "Any chance you want to bet on that, dear James?" I say, raising my eyebrows.

He smirks at me again, "Five Galleons says you don't have the guts."

I smile, flick my wand, and mutter under my breath, "Mucus ad nauseam."

He shivers a bit and I hear him sniffle  _a lot_. I raise my eyebrows at him, daring him to contradict me again. He doesn't, he just puts up his hands and mutters, "Okay, you win. Now do the counter-curse."

"Not until I get my money," I sing. He grabs five galleons out of his bag and practically throws them at me. I roll my eyes and mutter the counter-curse. "Remember, that's the simplest curse I could have possibly put on you. All it does is give you a stupid cold. I could do so much worse. . . . Now, what lesson have we learned today?"

"The lesson you should have learned was not to hex people. That could have gone terribly wrong." I turn towards Remus, the one who spoke.

"So you're telling me you've hung out with him for more than five minutes and not wanted to do that?"

"Well for starters I've only just met him, and secondly no, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that I refrain from hexing people. What if you couldn't perform the counter-curse? You've never even been to school, who's to say you could actually do it? Not to mention that it's technically breaking the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery."

"You're wrong," I sing with a smile.

"Pardon?"

"I said, you are wrong," I say enunciating every word. "The Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery prohibits magic in the presence of a muggle or in muggle inhabited areas." 

I shrug my shoulder at Remus as he looks at me disbelievingly.

Sirius smirks at Remus. "Nice job mate," he says sarcastically.

Remus glares at Sirius, and then at James after he starts laughing. "Fine then," Remus concedes, giving up that argument. "Maybe it doesn't break the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, but it's still against the rules."

"The rules that no one's explained to us first-years yet? Learn. To. Live. A. Bit. Besides, why not have a little fun in life every once in awhile?"

James and Sirius double over laughing and I smirk at him.

"Good job, Britt," Sirius says, after laughing for a while.

I turn to glare at him, but before I can do anything James suddenly bursts out like he's been waiting to bring it up. "Well then, who wants to talk about quidditch?!"

"I do!" Sirius and I both burst out at the same time.

"Do you play?" I ask them. They both nod. "What positions?"

"I'm chaser, and probably the best quidditch player you'll ever meet," James brags as he ruffles his hair again.

Sirius cuts in before James can continue to brag about himself, "I mostly play beater, and I'm willing to bet I'm better than all of you." He flashes a cocky smile, and my competitive genes kick in again and I feel the need to show him up.

"I play seeker."

"I plan on becoming quidditch captain one day," James sighs dreamily, his mind obviously wandering.

"Good luck with that one, if we're in the same house you'll have to compete against me for that slot, and we've already proven today that I'm better than you." I smile, throwing my book near my feet again.

"Britt, chill out, this hostility is coming from nowhere."

I glare at him, wondering how much trouble I'd get into if I transfigured him into a mouse. Probably a lot. McGonagall would give me a months detention  _and_ take away my broom. 

"Don't call me Britt!"

"Alright, alright . . . how about a middle name?" He questions as he props his feet up across the aisle.

"My full name is Brittany Diana Leila Constance Rosaline Katherine Hathaway. Have fun with that."

Sirius looks at me, "That's such a long name. Why the hell do you have such a long name?!"

"I like to say my parents are just really indecisive, but in reality, they had to take in suggestions from their parents and of course my grandparents nearly started a war because they're just so competitive. I guess that's one trait I inherited from them."

"Rosaline... " James talks so quietly that I don't hear him at first. "How about we call you Rose, or we could call you Kate as short for Katherine, although I personally prefer Rose. Leila's pretty short too, but it's so formal, it just doesn't roll off the tongue the way Rose or Kate does. I really prefer Rose, I think we should call you Rose."

I sigh and roll my eyes, yet again. "Fine then," I say deciding to just accept it. "Go with Rose, but if you ever tell  _anyone_ about my full name I will slit your throat."

"Why so touchy?" Remus raises his eyebrows at me.

"Because to be honest, I've always thought it was very . . . pureblood . . . of my parents to give their child a thousand middle names."

"That makes sense," Sirius says. At first, I think he's being sarcastic, but when I look at him, his face is serious. I smile at him and we continue talking. It surprises me that the conversation never really dies down. All the way to Hogwarts we just keep talking. The trolley comes by and I buy us some candy with the money I won off of James. Then when it starts to get dark I go to the lavatory to change into my robes while the boys change in the compartment.

~=+=~

"I think the train's slowing," I say as I look out the window. Outside everything is covered by a thick layer of fog so that I can barely see more than 3 feet in any direction.

"Can you see anything?" James asks me.

"If I did, don't you think I would have said something?"

"God Rose, you're so unnecessarily sassy. Do you have something you'd like to talk about?"

"Why yes, James I actually do. Why the hell do you have to be such an arse?"

"I don't know." He smirks at me. "Why do you have to be so rude?"

A voice echoes through the train. "We'll be at Hogwarts in a few seconds. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." At this, we all walk out of the compartment and into the crowd of people all running to get off the train.

"What time is it?" I ask Sirius, the closest person to me.

"Around 6:30. Don't you think it's a bit early for it to be this dark?"

I start to say something when Remus cuts me off, "That's exactly what I was thinking."

I turn to glare at him. "Seriously, do none of you bother with proper etiquette?"

"Oh not at all." This time James talks and I turn to glare at him.

I catch sight of Lily's bright red hair and decide that I've had enough of their insufferable personalities. I run to catch up to her. About halfway between Lily and the boys I turn and wave at them. I see James sort of roll his eyes and in response, I smirk and wink at them.

~=+=~

"Hey, Lily and. . ." I turn towards her friend, "Severus, right?"

"Yeah, and your name's Brittany, right? You were the one sitting with those boys."

"It is Brittany and about them, I'm sure they didn't mean any harm by it," I apologise on their behalf.

I see Lily roll her eyes and open her mouth to talk, but before she gets a chance we get off the train and hear a booming voice shouting, "FIRS' YEARS OVER HERE! FIRS' YEARS!"

"I guess we're supposed to go this way," Lily says in her usual sweet voice.

"Well. . ." I start. "It could always be someone trying to lead us into the woods to kill us and we're meant to go in the exact opposite direction."

"Oh yes, that's likely," she says in exasperation. "Well, how about we go get ourselves killed anyway?"

"I like your sense of adventure Lily."

The man who was talking was huge, twice the size of a normal human being. He leads us down a steep and narrow path but it's so dark and foggy I can't see anything. No one talks except James and Sirius who I hear murmuring from the back of the group. When the man finally stops we're standing in front of a black lake. Floating in the lake near the shore is a small fleet of boats.

"NO MORE'N FOUR TO A BOAT!" the guy yells.

Someone shouts behind me, "Share a boat with us, Rose?"

I whirl around to see a smirking James—with Sirius and Remus behind him—standing a few feet back.

"No actually, I think I'm going to ride with Lily and Severus."

"Lily and Snivellus?" Sirius asks with a smirk.

I roll my eyes at them, slightly annoyed, and grab Lily's arm. "Come on Lily, let's get a boat."

After everyone's in the boats, we start moving slowly across the lake. I glance around at the other boats. All first-years. I spot James, Sirius, and Remus sitting with another boy who was desperately trying to talk to them. He was probably inflating their already huge egos.

"Did you know we'd be getting there via boat?" I ask.

"I did," Severus says. "My mum told me everything about Hogwarts."

"My mum attended Beauxbatons and my dad never really talked about Hogwarts."

"WOAH! Brittany look at the castle!" Lily gasps and grabs my arm with one hand while the other points to the castle.

I turn forwards again and my eyes land upon a huge castle. Hogwarts. The castle's so large, beautiful, and magnificent, it makes me feel so small and insignificant.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I sigh contently.

We smile at each other as we move towards the castle, our home away from home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading and voting I really appreciate. Please comment if there's anything that I should fix or that doesn't seem good (except the grammar in that sentence) of course constructive criticism is very much preferred to just flat out complaints. 
> 
> Anyway, fun facts that I think you should know. This will probably be the longest chapter, so sorry if you like them longer than this, but I don't have that kind of time, especially not with my other [amazing] book that I'm writing which is like 10,000 words a chapter. Also, Brittany has long black hair which means that black haired marauders outnumber the rest at 3 to 2... I swear that wasn't my intention when I made her black haired, I swear.
> 
> Anyhow, thank's for reading, like from the bottom of my heart. I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Yeah, a lot of dialogue in this chapter, in particular, belongs to J.K. Rowling (I don't steal dialogue all the time, chill) so yeah. Disclaimer. Don't want to get sued, you know?


	3. Sorting Hat

"Hathaway, Brittany!"

I wipe my sweaty hands on my robes and start walking towards the sorting hat. I try to calm my breathing, to stop myself from hyperventilating or something.  _No matter what house I end up in it won't matter that much_ , I tell myself. I glance over at Lily who's giving me encouraging smiles from her place at the Gryffindor table next to Sirius. I sit down on the old rickety stool and McGonagall sets the hat on my head. It's so big that if covers my eyes, but right before I lose sight I see James giving me a thumbs up from the crowd of people.

I nearly jump up and out of my seat when I hear a voice, it's so quiet that I know that I'm the only one that can hear it. Not even Professor McGonagall can hear it, even though she's standing barely five feet away.

"Well well well... you are difficult to place. I remember sorting your father... the hardest wizard to place I've ever had... although you might well beat him... " I hear the hat musing.

 _What is this hat talking about?_  I start thinking

"Why your father of course."

_Of course, the sorting hat can read minds..._

"I suppose you could call it that. Although it's really more like peering in. I'm just taking a peek at your mind to see where you belong."

 _First off, what are you talking about, secondly, where do I belong?_  I think at the hat.

"Well, that's the problem, isn't it... like your father you've got a complex mind, you could very well fit into any of the houses. You're smart, brave, ambitious, and loyal..."

_Well shouldn't you know, isn't it your job?_

"I see ambition, ambition to prove yourself, to make yourself so powerful that the world belongs to you. I see that Ravenclaw thirst for knowledge, desperately clawing at any bit of information you can find. I see your bravery, the bravery to do whatever you want regardless of the repercussions. I even see your fierce loyalty, you would give up your life for your siblings, you'd give up your life for your friends."

_Great. Congratulations. You've evaluated my traits. Wonderful. Now tell me what house I belong in._

"Perhaps Slytherin.

_Perhaps? Do I belong in Slytherin in or not?_

"Now I'm really tempted to place you in Slytherin. Just . . . be quiet so I can  _think_."

_But . . ._

"Quiet," the sorting hat growls.

I fall silent as the sorting hat deliberates. It doesn't say anything else, so I'm forced to sit in silence as I consider all the possibilities. My mind wanders aimlessly and my heart continues to try to pound its way out of my chest.

"I don't think Slytherin is the right choice."

_Are you telling me you spent all that time thinking, but you've only considered Slytherin?_

"You've got a complex mind."

 _Why not Slytherin?_ I ask, curious despite myself.

"You don't value your ambition. And you cut yourself short. You have enough ambition, but . . ."

_What does that mean "You cut yourself short"_

"If you thought about it for a minute, you'd understand. Maybe Ravenclaw . . ."

I feel like screaming. I've been up here for what feels like forever, and the hat still has no real ideas about where I go.

". . . You're very creative. Even smarter. You've spent much of your time reading and writing. You have studied magic a lot as well."

 _Yes, but . . ._ I stop short. I don't want to put it into words—even in my head—why I spend all that time trying to perfect my magic and practising spells.

The sorting hat doesn't speak after I falter off so I'm forced to sit through another one of those immeasurable moments. I stare at the inside of the hat and just try to breathe. Faintly I can hear people murmuring. 

"No, Ravenclaw isn't right either, you may be very smart, but you are less so than anything else. Gryffindor is probably the best house for you."

_But what about Hufflepuff?_

"Do you honestly believe that Hufflepuff is the best bet for you."

_Well . . . you are the one that said that I would be willing to give my life for my family . . . or my friends. And you're not wrong, I would._

"Yes, but it's because of your bravery that you are so willing to give up your life. You may be loyal to your family, and that is certainly worth something, but without your bravery, it would be nothing. You could be the most loyal person on the planet, but without fearlessness, you wouldn't give up your life. You are loyal, but even more so are you brave."

_But . . . it's just . . ._

"You're fearlessness shines through in all your traits. Your loyalty, your ambition, your intelligence. All of it is highlighted by your courage."

_Yes . . . that's true . . . but well . . ._

I try to think. I try to put it all into categories and decide where I want to go, where I think would best suit me. I think about all the things around me, but my head ends up just going in circles.

"You're friends are in Gryffindor."

I close my eyes . . . Lily. The girl with the brilliant eyes and sharp humor. So kind and so wonderful. Unique and beautiful. And the boy with the arrogant attitude who's sitting at the table. Arrogant, yet pained, yet still kind, all in one. And James Potter. Smart and witty. A somewhat annoying menace, yet . . . there was something else there.

I sigh and open my eyes before mumbling, "Yes. . . . I suppose you're right. Gryffindor is best."

"I told you. . . ." the hat mumbles, then calls out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

I smile and pull the sorting hat off. After setting it on the stool I practically run towards the Gryffindor table and sit across the from Lily, so that my back is to the wall.

In the end, Remus, Sirius, James, Lily, and the boy that rode with James and Sirius ended up in Gryffindor and Lily's friend—Severus—is in Slytherin. Lily sits next to two other first-year girls while Sirius and James sit across from me, next to Lily. Remus sits next to me and the other boy sits next to Remus.

"Rose you took up the time of pretty much all of us combined, mind you Peter took 5 minutes," Sirius teases.

"Well, the hat was being pretty incompetent at its job," I retorted.

"In the end, you definitely ended up in the right house, though," James says with an  _almost_  sincere smile.

The headmaster, Dumbledore, stands up then and motions for silence. Almost immediately the hall falls quiet and everyone turns to look at him. "Welcome to yet another year at Hogwarts! I'm sure you're hungry, so I won't keep you! Please, tuck in!"

As soon as he finishes talking the tables fill with more food than I've ever seen before in my life. There's roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausage, bacon, steak, there's even some Muggle candy. I grab a little bit of everything, finding that I'm starving, despite earlier feeling so nervous I wanted to puke.

"So Rose, we're in the same house. Does that mean you're going to try to steal the spot of Quidditch Captain from me?" James asks me and I can sense that there's a little bit of a dare in his words.

"It won't be stealing. That spot is mine, not yours."

James smirks, "I'll bet you 20 galleons I become quidditch captain, not you."

I raise my eyebrows at him. He just stares at me. "Fine then. 20 galleons, but fair warning, I'll definitely beat you," I say confidently as I shake his hand across the table.

"What makes you think you're soooooo much better than me at quidditch?" James asks me.

"Let's call it, intuition," I smirk at him as he glares at me.

"Just you wait... I'll prove I'm way better than you."

Remus suddenly butts in, "Why is it that quidditch is the most important thing on earth to all of you?" He asks, eyebrows raised. "Aren't there more important things in life? Like maybe schoolwork or something?"

"The real question," Sirius says in response, "Is why you  _don't_  think quidditch is the most important thing on the planet?"

"Are you serious?"

"Why yes, I am Sirius," Sirius responds, before breaking into laughter along with James. I groan at the same time as Remus.

"Hey, Rose." James asks after a second—probably trying to change the subject, "Are you pureblood?"

"Yeah." My stomach knots. "I know I don't have a traditional pureblood name but that's because my mum's from France and my dad's from here. He took my mum's name in exchange for them living here. Their families didn't exactly approve of them so everything they did was regulated in deals. It's sort of sad when you think about it."

"At least your family seems to be slightly reasonable about it. . ." Sirius mutters darkly and I see him turn his head just slightly and glance at the Slytherin table on the other side. I glance behind him and see that there are a few Slytherins who're murmuring and sending dark glances at Sirius.

"Yeah, I agree. Their families fought constantly, and there was a practical battle over how they would spend their lives . . . but when all's said and done they got what they wanted. Although I suppose you won't get the same treatment," I say as I suddenly remember Sirius's last name. Black, the pureblood house that sticks to their traditions. I've heard of them cutting people off just because they married a Muggle or got sorted into Gryffindor. I know purebloods, and they can be cruel and vicious.

Sirius smiles sadly, "Yes, I suppose that my family won't be happy with this situation."

"Well they're all idiots," James says.

"That I'll agree with," Remus pipes in, although I doubt he really knows what we're talking about.

"Don't you think everyone's an idiot?" I ask Remus pointedly. "You yelled at me for cursing this loser," I say jerking my thumb in James's direction.

"Because you were on the train! You most definitely shouldn't have done that! You could've been kicked out of Hogwarts."

"Dumbledore is hardly going to kick a first-year out of Hogwarts for using magic on the train. I mean we know for a fact that some students have used black magic here in the past and they weren't kicked out for that," I respond, controlling the urge to roll my eyes at him again.

"She's got a point," James states, "and in the end, she knew what she was doing. . . . I doubt she would've cursed me if she didn't."

"Maybe," Remus finally says, giving up.

I roll my eyes at him, "Finally. That only took forever."

I sigh and turn towards Lily and talk with her about school and classes.

After everyone's finished eating the plates magically clear themselves and then seconds later dessert appears. There's blocks of ice cream, doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding, and even more. I grab a doughnut and turn back towards Remus, James, Sirius, and the boy that they rode the boat with.

James ruffles his hair up and brags to them in response to something I missed, "Why yes, I am perfect."

I scoff and roll my eyes, "Cocky much?"

"Why of course Rose. It's simply my nature."

I see Remus roll his eyes before saying, "Rose this is Peter, Peter this is Rose."

I glance at Peter. He's a little chubby but still has sharp features, with brownish hair. He looks at me and stutters, "I-I t-thought your n-name w-was Brit-Brittany?"

"It is, but some idiot here decided he doesn't like my name."

James looks at me and feigns being hurt, "Well I'm sorry that I thought that Brittany is an annoying name."

"Well I think James is an annoying name and I  _never_ tried to change  _your_ name, now did I?"

"Well, at least I'm not an annoying sass monster without remorse who also happens to have an annoying name."

"That hurts James," I say as I pretend to wipe away tears.

"Oh poor Rose," Sirius teases, "She's got hurt feelings."

"Shut up Sir-"

In the middle of my sentence, Dumbledore stands up and the hall falls silent again. "I have a few start-of-term notices that I need to get out.

"I believe that our first years should note that magic in the corridors is not permitted and the forest on the grounds is strictly forbidden to all students.

"I would also like to introduce our new defence against the dark arts professor. Professor Wilkins," Dumbledore says and a woman at the end of the staff table stands up and then sits down again as quickly as possible.

"I also believe that it is my job to say since it was not made clear earlier apparently, that no magic should be used on the train when coming to, or leaving, Hogwarts."

I grimace as I see him cast a quick glance in the direction of Gryffindor table. Remus turns towards me and whispers, " _Told you so._ "

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. If you're interested in playing you should contact Professor Hoop."

My interest peaked at this bit of news.

Dumbledore has us sing the Hogwarts song and then he sends us off to bed. I follow one of the Gryffindor Prefects through the castle. The billion twists and turns already make me confused enough, but the fact that the  _stairs move_  almost gives me a panic attack.

"There's no way I'm going to get through this year. I'll end up lost here at least once a week for the rest of my life," I complain to a random girl, the closest person to me. "I mean the stairs  _move_ , I'm going to be late to every single class.

"I'm sure we'll get used to it. Besides it's the first week, the teachers have got to be a little bit lenient," another girl responds. "Oh right, my name's Alice Prewett." She has pretty shoulder length dirty blonde that's really browner than blonde, hair and a kind face. I find myself liking her.

"Brittany Hathaway."

"Why do I know the name, Hathaway? Are you pureblood?"

"I am, but my mum's from France and I have her name."

"Odd," she murmurs quietly. "Oh, this is Marlene," she announces suddenly as she waves her hand at the girl I was talking to originally.

"Hi," Marlene greets, her voice has a twinkling to it. "I love your hair, it's so long and dark. I hate my short blonde hair," she chatters waving her hand around her pixie cut. "Your hair is just so long. . ."

I nod along with her as I tune out just a bit. She's super bubbly and I probably won't like it if we end up sharing a room, but she'd definitely be a good friend. Everyone stops suddenly, meaning we've reached the dormitory.

"How do you get your hair to curl like that?," Marlene continues as I start listening to her talking again. "I mean it goes all the way down your back and it's all wavy. I hardly see black wavy hair. Your hair is sooooo thick, too. I mean your hair is  _perfect_."

I roll my eyes and interject before she starts another sentence. "I like your hair too. I think the pixie cut looks nice on you."

"Oh, thanks. I really don't like it. I think it's too flat. I was considering growing it out again. I don't know though . . ."

The prefect tells everyone the password and the painting swings open and the crowd stumbles into the dormitory. The Gryffindor common room is a warm circular room with a fireplace and tonnes of fluffy armchairs and couches. It's covered in gold and the crackling fire makes everything feel like home. The prefect motions for the girls to go through the right door and up a spiral staircase and the boys in the door to the left.

Marlene, Lily, Alice, and I end up sharing a room along with a girl named Audrey. We all change into our PJs quietly except for Marlene who continues to ramble on about hair and such. I tune out most of her words. However, when Lily speaks I immediately turn my attention towards her.

"Oh, I forgot, here's the Gryffindor timetable. Tomorrow's Thursday so we've got charms at 9:45."

"When did you get these?" I question as I study the timetable Lily handed me.

"One of the prefects gave them to me. While I was still out in the hall."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Alice suddenly gasps, looking at her schedule.

"What?" Marlene asks as I try looking at the schedule for the problem.

"We've got astronomy on Wednesday until 1 a.m. and then regular classes on Thursday! Are they trying to kill us?!" Alice screams, clearly freaking out.

"It's just until 1. I'm sure we can handle it," Lily tries to comfort Alice, but I see her eyebrows knitting together and I can tell she's stressed at just the thought of it.

"If we couldn't, they probably wouldn't put it on here, would they?" I say, attempting to comfort the girls. "Now then, I'm tired, I ate too much, and I would like to go to bed."

"That's probably a good idea," Audrey agrees, probably trying to get the girls to calm down. "Besides I heard they start you off with hard work right away and don't really bother easing us in, which means we should get as much sleep as possible. On the other hand, we might be able to start doing spells right away."

Alice looks extremely excited at this. Like she's about to fall over. "Do you think?! I've been wanting to try a few spells but my mum's said no every time."

"I've done a few spells," I say quietly, but everyone hears and they all turn to look at me. "I used the Curse of the Bogies on James."

"Well you're already ahead of the class," Lily declares, smiling at me, although probably more because of me cursing James than because I'm ahead of the class. "According to the older student I was talking to, the first things we'll be learning is the Curse of the Bogies and how to cure werewolf bites. Just out of curiosity, what else do you know?"

"Nothing," I say, fidgeting slightly. I know quite a bit thanks to my studying, but I don't really want them to think I'm bragging or anything.

"Out with it," Alice nearly yells. "I'm not an idiot, I know you know more."

"Well. . ." I start. "I know the Levitation spell,  _Lumos Solem_ , the Unlocking Charm, the Locking Spell, the Fire-Making Spell. . ." I trail off as they look at me, surprised at how much I knew.

"Is that all?" Lily asks, raising her eyebrows.

I shrink back a bit and I can feel my face turning red. We're all sitting on our own beds, and they're all across the room from me, but suddenly I feel like their gazes are smothering me. Technically that isn't all.

"THAT! IS! SO! COOL!" Marlene suddenly screams. "You have to teach me how to do that stuff," she is talking at the speed of lightning and I can barely keep up. "Do you know anything about transfiguration? Oh. My. God. You're sooooo awesome. How did you manage it?"

I feel my cheeks flush as Marlene screams at me and Alice looks at me, waiting for me to answer. "I do know a little about transfiguration, but not very much. Honestly I mostly just read and then whenever I was in Hogsmeade I practised magic."

"You're a very impressive witch. I bet someday you're going to do something awesome," Lily says smiling at me. "However it is very late. The feast alone took like 3 hours, plus the travel through the castle and all of our chatting. It's already 11."

With that we all laid in bed, getting ready for the new day ahead of us. Each of us filled with our own fears, hopes and dreams for the new school year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the other day I was doing some mathmaticals and I realised that if there are as many students at Hogwarts as Rowling says, but there's only ever like 5 people in a dorm room, then there have to be multiple dorm rooms per year. So yeah, that completely messed with my head.
> 
> In other news, thanks for reading guys. I appreciate it. Have a good life. Vote, please. Enjoy.


	4. Breakfast

All I can see is black, pressing in on me, strangling me. It's not like normal darkness where you simply can't see anything, it's so dark—so black—it's making it hard to breathe. And it's quiet. The quiet presses around me making it so that I can hear my own heartbeat. Everything's so quiet. So dark.

I walk forward, trying to get away, trying to escape. But the farther I walk it seems like the darkness only presses closer like it's swallowing me instead of allowing me to leave. Pressing in on me I feel like I'm drowning.

 _It's trying to kill me!_ I scream. _Get me out of here!_

I break out into a run, but the darkness pushes me back. Like it doesn't want me to keep going.

Then I gasp as I stagger to the edge of a precipice, and I can feel my heart pounding. Feel, but not hear—the quiet is gone.

A white brightness surrounds me. I'm standing just inches from the edge.

White all around me, nothing but white. But when I turn around, there's a solid black wall.

The only way is down or back into the darkness, the quiet.

I stand there on the edge forever. Until my legs get tired of holding me.

I stand there for a while more.

But I can feel myself falling. And I know, if I step forward it won't matter anymore.

So I move.

Just a fraction of an inch.

Forward.

~=+=~

I dart awake and take a deep breath. It takes a second for me to realise where I am. Slowly my mind puts together the pieces and I remember I'm in my bed in the Gryffindor Tower at Hogwarts. I look at the clock and barely manage to read the time.  _5:10_.

I close my eyes and lie there, waiting for my heart to slow down. It doesn't take long for me to realise that there's no way I'm going to be able to get back to sleep, not with the adrenaline pumping through me. I silently slip out of my bed, grab my clothes, quickly change, then grab my school books and stow away to the common room.

When I'm down there I sit in the comfiest armchair by the fire and pull out  _Magical Theory_. It's the only book I could find that talks about creating spells. I'd always thought that I'd like to create spells one day, although it doesn't say anything about how any actual spells are created.

I study the pages vigorously, being careful to pay attention to every word. I'm so entranced in my reading that I don't notice anyone leaving the tower. I'm still reading silently when suddenly someone comes up behind me and yells, "ROSE!" right into my ear.

I jump up and turn around to glare at a particular group of boys. Sirius is grinning at me, James has his arm thrown over Sirius' shoulder and he's smirking at me. Remus and Peter stand behind them, with somewhat apologetic looks on their faces.

"Are you serious?!" I yell at them. "I mean-"

"Why yes I am Sirius," he interrupts me. "That's James though. You seem to have gotten some sort of amnesia over the night Rose."

I glare at them as James and Sirius crack up into laughter. But before I can start yelling at them I start laughing too, finding their laughter contagious. Soon Remus and Peter burst into laughter and we're all just in the middle of the common room laughing our arses off.

"Why . . . were we . . . laughing?" Peter asks between pants once we stop.

"I don't . . . know," I respond. As I start to come back to earth. 

"Well Rose, as I was trying to say," Sirius starts. "Is that breakfast is almost over, everyone's already left."

My happiness fades. I glare at him for a millisecond before grabbing my school books and muttering, "Thanks so much for the warning,  _friends_."

Remus apparently heard me perfectly clearly because he responds, "You know we're about as late as you are. It's not like we sat around here wondering how long it'd take you to realise the time."

I roll my eyes as I sling my messenger bag onto my shoulder and walk towards the portrait hole. "Well maybe if someone was awake earlier then this wouldn't have happened at all."

They all follow me through the portrait hole and down the stairs as James says to me, "Yeah, or  _someone_  could have kept better track of time, not relied on anyone else to snap her out of her reading daze, or perhaps have not started reading at all."

"Maybe I should curse you again so that you'll shut up," I grumble, more to myself than anyone else.

"If you do that, then you'll be actually late," Sirius responds with a smirk.

I ignore them and walk to the great hall in silence, by some miracle actually remembering the way. I sit down next to Lily, who's sitting with Audrey, Alice and a few other first year Gryffindors from the other dorm rooms. Apparently, James and Sirius don't understand that I don't want to sit with them because James sits beside me while Sirius and Peter and Remus sit across from me.

"You know," I say in agitation. "We've still got over 30 minutes left before breakfast ends. Mail hasn't even arrived yet."

James grins at me and ruffles his hair up. "Yeah, but it was so funny watching you get all angry."

"You're lucky I don't hex you right on this spot," I tell him.

"Here's to hoping you've learned some better curses since yesterday," Remus mumbles.

James protests in agitation, "Hey!" at the same time I mumble, "As a matter of fact I have."

Remus rolls his eyes. "Actually, let's not hex or curse anyone today. Okay, Rose?"

I glare at him before starting to eat pancakes with way too much whipped cream on them. As I dig into my pancakes I notice the mail start to stream in. Sirius's owl appears in front of him and I notice him jump up and away a bit. I turn to eye the letter. The envelope is red with a slightly deeper red ribbon wrapping around it.

I recognise it fairly quickly.  _A Howler_. When I was younger my mum would send them to me, even though I was generally just upstairs. It'd scream at me for about a minute and then shred itself to pieces. I loathed when she would do it. But Sirius has one, in public, and I could tell it would be about a thousand times worse, especially since it's probably from his mum, a total pureblood nut—according to every bit of gossip I've ever overheard about the Black's.

"You should probably open that, or else it'll make it worse," I mumble, still staring at the howler. I'd never had the audacity to ignore one, but my parents had when I was younger and their grandparents sent one. It had shrieked twice as loud as the others.

Sirius closes his eyes as he picks it up and suddenly breaks the seal. Within a few seconds, the letter starts shouting.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!

"YOU'RE THE DISGRACE OF THE FAMILY,

"SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR!

"I DEMAND YOU SEE DUMBLEDORE  _IMMEDIATELY_ AND ASK TO BE RESORTED! NEVER IN ALL MY YEARS WOULD I HAVE IMAGINED THIS OF YOU!"

The letter goes on like this, insulting Sirius, calling him a disgrace. By this point, I think the only ones still paying attention are the five of us, plus the Slytherins trying to make fun of Sirius. The rest are desperately trying to ignore them so they can finish their food.

"IF DUMBLEDORE REFUSES TO ALLOW YOU TO BE RESORTED I WILL PERSONALLY COME DONE THERE! THAT IGNORANT -"

I sigh and get up. Pulling my wand out of my pocket I point it directly to the letter, still yelling in Sirius' face and yell, louder than the howler, " _REDUCTO!_ " The letter instantly explodes, shrivelling up into ash and making its home on Sirius' breakfast. 

"Sorry" I mumble as I sit back down and put my wand back in my pocket, "but I was getting rather sick of it." _Plus insulting Dumbledore is not something that should be done in front of an entire school._

"Nah, it's good," Sirius responds as he continues to stare at where the howler had been. I can practically see the gears working in his head. He's probably going to go to Dumbledore, and in his mind, Dumbledore will have him resorted, he'll go to Slytherin where he'll be ridiculed and have to live the rest of his life knowing how close he was to being in Gryffindor. That's not how that'll go there.  _If_ he even goes up there, there's no way Dumbledore would have him resorted however, it will ruin his pride forever.

"You don't have to go you know," I say simply as I continue my pancakes.

"I don't appear to have much of a choice," Sirius mumbles half-heartedly.

"You always,  _always_ , have a choice. Sometimes the choices suck, sometimes there's no right answer. There's a right answer here though. Don't go."

"How do you know that's the right answer?"

I resist the urge to roll my eyes and smack him with a book. "Sirius, I lived with two purebloods, descended from strict families who had parents that controlled their every move. If you even go up there, you're giving in. What happens if you go there and you get resorted? You'll have been that close to what you want only to have it snatched away from you, besides your family will hate you regardless now. Chase after what you want and worry about the repercussions later"

"But what if it's better for me in Slytherin? What if that's the better choice?"

This time I do roll my eyes. "Sirius Black. You could spend the rest of your life wondering ' _what if'_  but no one here knows the answer and no one will, but you have friends in Gryffindor and it's where you are now, so you just need to learn to live in the present. Not the future, not the past. Sure it makes for some stupid choices sometimes, but the present is where we live. Choose the choices that'll make you happy now. You can't regret the past and there's no sense worrying about the future because it'll pass you by no matter what."

I turn to look over at him and he looks close to tears. He rushes out of the great hall, everyone watching him. I turn to James and cringe, "Shit. What did I say that caused that reaction."

He rips his eyes from the closed great hall door towards me. "I honestly do not know."

~=+=~

I've been searching for ten minutes for Sirius. Originally I'd expected him to be in the classroom, but he wasn't in there. So, of course, I said I'd go search for him and James would grab Sirius and his own bags and then search too. He had made me promise to go back to the classroom 5 minutes.

I, of course, am breaking our agreement and continuing searching for Sirius. I sigh as I look in yet another empty classroom and decide that the classroom after this will be my last one, which I had been telling myself for the past minute and a half.

I stumble into the room and glance around the room. It's dark, with only a small dirt covered window to let any light in. At first, I don't see anyone, only the chairs and desks piled neatly against the walls. Just as I turn to leave I spot movement out of the corners of my eye and look back to see Sirius hidden by one of the desks.

He doesn't appear to be hiding, he's just sitting there. His hands holding his head.

"Sirius," I say gently. "Are you okay?"

He looks at me in surprise and I can't help but notice tears rolling down his cheeks. "I'm fine," he says in defiance, but I look into his stormy grey eyes and I can practically hear his internal screams for help.

"Sirius," I say as I walk up to him. "It'll be okay."

I sit down and put my arm around him and look into his eyes, trying to tell him that he'll be okay. When I look at him I can tell he's broken a little. It's like that when I look at any of them. They're all a little bruised on the inside.

I can only think one thing looking at him,  _We're only 11_. How had any of us managed to get into this emotional state of constant fear or worry? Remus, Sirius, Peter, even James—the most normal of us. When I look at them I can clearly see they're all hiding pasts, just like me.  _But we're only 11_. How had any of us managed to end up with such a bad past in the first place?

"I'm here for you," I tell him as I study his face.

He opens his mouth and then closes it. A second later he says, "Let's go to charms. You probably don't want to be late."

I roll my eyes a bit but then quickly let go of Sirius and stand up and he follows suit. My mum's words echo around my head. Words she'd told me when I was only 3. Back when I had real pure innocence. 

She'd been reading some fairy tale to me. When the prince finally realised his true feeling she'd turned to me and said, "He could've just admitted his true feelings then, but he didn't. Do you know why?" I'd shook my head, honestly stumped. "Men are very stupid about their pride. They don't want to show weakness to the world. All you need to do though is show them a little bit of kindness and they'll get the message anyway and you'll just have to hope that one day they stop being stupid."

~=+=~

Sirius and I rush into the charms classroom just as the bell rings. I quickly scan the classroom and notice the empty desk next to James. I quickly run over there and sit next to him and Sirius sits beside me. As I sit down James narrows his eyes at me.

"You didn't stick to the plan," he hisses as the teacher takes roll.

"I never stick to any plan. Whether I agreed to the plan or not. The only time I stick to a plan is if I formulated it myself, and even though it's still a fifty-fifty," I hiss back.

"You were almost late."

"But I wasn't."

"But you almost were."

I roll my eyes as I grab my book, my quill and some parchment. "We could do this all day. All that matters is that I'm on time, Sirius is with me, and that you stop bothering me."

"Oh piss off," he grumbles under his breath.

"Gladly."

I turn away from him and back towards Sirius. "Want to talk about it?" I ask him as Flitwick mutters something about rules, and paying attention. All the things I don't care about and am currently not doing at all—oh the irony.

"Not really, not ever."

I feel tempted to glare at him, but instead turn towards the teacher and pretend to pay attention as words echo around my head.

_"Men are stupid about their pride"._

Never had it felt truer.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's sort of short however, there's like a lot of important stuff that is sort of vital to the final storyline. Well not really I just feel like it needs to be here. So it's here. 
> 
> I hope you like it. Vote. All that shizzle.


	5. First Day

My first day so far has been a big blur.

So far I've managed to make it make it to every class on time with ease—except Charms—no thanks to James  _or_ Sirius who I walked with to nearly every class. Twice they got stuck in one of the disappearing steps that the Prefect that showed us around had warned us about. We'd had herbology after charms and then James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter had somehow wrangled me into walking to lunch with them.

"After lunch, we've got Transfiguration," Remus says excitedly.

"Yes, but after defence against the dark arts we've got our first flying lessons," James responds with excitement rivalling Remus's.

I roll my eyes at the boys. "What a surprise. Remus is excited about Transfiguration and James is excited about flying lessons. The nerd and the jock. How are you guys, friends?"

"Our Remmy may be a nerd and he may come off as a total stickler for the rules, but he's actually quite a rule breaker," Sirius says, smirking and throwing his arm around Remus.

"What did you guys do?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at the boys.

"Nothing, not a thing. Right, Peter?"

Peter looks startled and nods along earnestly. "They didn't do anything," he squeaks out.

"Remus?" I turn towards the one most likely to break, "What did you guys do?"

"We didn't do anything," Remus responds stubbornly. "Why would you even think we did something. It's the first day of school."

"Are you joking? You are joking, right? Who am I kidding? Of course you're joking! Why don't you just tell me? I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Fine then," James finally concedes. "We replaced their ink," James motions towards a few of the other girls from Gryffindor, Marlene, Alice, and Lily, "with disappearing ink."

"Did you replace my ink? You didn't, right?" I look at them worriedly. I was, after all, sitting with the girls during Herbology.

"Rose, you make such a cute face when you're worried," Sirius stalls and I turn my gaze towards him for a second to glare. He's also still avoiding talking about  _The Incident._

"Stop avoiding the question! Did you or did you not replace my ink?"

James sighs and takes an ink bottle out of his pocket, as we're walking through the doors to the castle, and chucks it at me and I snatch it out of the air effortlessly. "There's your ink, but I want that disappearing ink back later."

I sigh and look through my bag for the disappearing ink. I find it and study the label. It looks exactly like my regular ink, I would have never been able to tell the difference. I toss the ink at James and feel a small bit of pride when he nearly drops it before catching it.

"Great, now everything's back in order. Except for, well, them," I say sending a glance at Lily.

"No, Rose, no," Sirius says worriedly, "Don't you dare tell them."

We all sit down at the table, Remus and me next to each other and Sirius, James, and Peter on the other side of the table. Remus, Peter, and I fill our plates with lunch while James and Sirius are exchanging worried glances. They're acting like I'm actually going to tell on them.

"Rose, do not tell them," James says to me slowly like I'm a wild animal and I wouldn't understand him if he didn't talk to me like that. "I swear to god if you tell them."

I laugh at him for a moment, "I wasn't going to tell them. I'm hurt that you'd even think that I'd do that."

"You would soooo tell them." Sirius rolls his eyes at me.

~=+=~

"Transfiguration is one of the hardest classes you will take," Professor McGonagall says as she stands in front of the class. "First we will learn the transfiguration alphabet, then we will learn the transfiguration formula. There will be vigorous note taking until you are allowed to do any spell casting.

"I know for some of you this may be quite boring, some of you may even know all of this already," McGonagall says, and I swear her eyes flick towards me like Dumbledore's had during his speech after the feast. "Regardless you will do exactly as I say. Anyone messing around in this class will leave and not come back.

"Is this understood?" she asks peering at each of us over her glasses. We all nod at her. "Good."

I'm sitting next to Remus. James is sitting with Sirius in the desk behind us, and Peter's sitting at the desk next to James. McGonagall has us take notes on the transfiguration alphabet, something I've already known for a while. For most of the class I take half-assed notes, but after a while, I just give up and focus on what James and Sirius' whispering.

"When do you think they'll notice that everything their writing is disappearing?"

"You'd think a nerd like her would notice by now," James says referencing Lily who's desperately scribbling notes that she wouldn't be able to read. I feel almost bad for her. She's taking such great care to get down everything McGonagall's saying and now she wouldn't even be able to read them.

"I think McKinnon's noticed. Look she's desperately flipping through the pages like she thinks it'll just appear again."

I turn to look at Marlene's panicked expression. I feel sort of bad for her, and make a vow to find a spell to help. Something like the revealing charm or something. I hear James snort and turn to look back at the girls. Alice was taking almost as detailed notes as Lily and after Marlene's fuss, she finally noticed everything was gone. She's desperately flipping through, and waving her wand, probably trying to use a spell.

I scoot my chair back and lean back just a bit, laying my elbow on their desk but keeping my eyes trained to the front of the room. "Do you seriously think this is funny?" I hiss at them.

"Yes," James says.

"Just a bit," Sirius admits.

I sigh. "Why? I mean all you're doing is torturing them, where's the comedic aspect to this at all."

"Honestly?" James asks.

"Yes!" I whisper-exclaim.

"It's payback."

"What could I have possibly done that deserves payback? I thought we were friends, this is not what friends do."

"You were a spur of the moment decision," Sirius says. "You and Lily both actually. The real revenge was against Dorcas, Alice, and Marlene."

"What did they do? Honestly, it's the first day."

Remus suddenly whispers to me, "It honestly was payback. I mean, not well-deserved payback, but pay back none the less."

"But what did they do?"

I notice Remus exchange glances with James and Sirius before shaking his head minutely. 

"Sorry, can't tell you," James says quietly. "Top-secret."

I sigh, "Please. I promise—"

"You're dismissed!" McGonagall interrupts. "No homework for today!"

I start to pack up when I hear a panicked shriek, "No, no, no no! Where did all my notes go?!" Lily yells furiously. She whips her head around towards James and Sirius. "It was you wasn't it!" she spits accusingly at them.

"Why on earth would you ever accuse me of that?!" James says, placing his hand over his heart and feigning hurt. "Why would I ever do that?"

"Oh, you foul. . ." Lily screams and runs at James from across the room with her wand. 

Lily has her wand almost pointed at James before McGonogall—who has an eye for trouble—comes rushing over.

"What seems to be the problem?" McGonagall says eyeing James, Sirius, and Lily.

Lily seems to realise she doesn't actually have a case against them and looks down. "There's no problem Professor McGonagall," Lily mutters, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

"No problems at all Professor, right Sirius," James smirks and turns towards Sirius.

"No problems, not a single one," Sirius replies grinning.

I roll my eyes as Professor McGonagall walks back to the front of the classroom after continuing to eye them suspiciously.

"I'm going to get you for this!" Lily hisses at James before storming back to her desk and after sending a death glare at James she starts throwing blank parchment into her bag, still visibly fuming.

"I'd be worried if I were you," I warn James and Sirius. "Lily seems like the kind of person that doesn't just let that slide."

"The only thing she'll do is get us detention," James says completely offhanded.

"You act like you want detention."

"It's not that we want detention. . ." Sirius starts.

". . .It's more like we don't care," James finishes for Sirius.

I roll my eyes at them and catch Remus' eye. We exchange an exasperated glance before James declares, "Come on, we've got Defense Against the Dark Arts. I don't want to be late."

"Why do you care if we're on time?" Remus asks, seeming almost worried.

"Because Defense Against the Dark Arts isn't a terrible class," James replies.

We walk over to Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom together and I sit next to Remus again in the last row with James and Sirius sitting at the table to our left. Poor Peter ends up sitting alone again. Lily's sitting a few rows ahead of us next to Severus and when she heard us come in she turns to glare at us, or more specifically James and Sirius.

I turn towards Remus who's flipping through 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.' "Remus, I'll be right back." He glances at me for a second, nods, and then returns to the book.

I bound towards Lily and stand in the space between her and Marlene. "So, I know what James and Sirius did and I—"

"YOU WERE IN ON IT!" Lily shrieks.

"Hardly," I scoff. "They tried to prank me too."

She narrows her eyes at me but decides to let it go, for now.

"Anyway. I think I know a spell that can get the writing back. I'll need to do some research and test it out some, but I think I can do it."

Lily glares at me, "What makes you think we can't do it ourselves?"

I frown at her, "I was just trying to help."

"Well, we don't need your help." Lily scowls at me then turns around and starts talking to Severus as Severus sends me this death glare.

I walk back to my seat in despair and Remus looks up at me.

"They hate me," I whine.

"I'm sure they don't," he responds in a comforting tone.

I sigh as I lay my head on the table and cover it with my arms. "They definitely do," I mumble back. "Lily probably hates me about as much as Sirius and James, which would be all fine and dandy, except I share a room with her!"

"I doubt tha—"

Remus is interrupted by the doors swinging open loudly and the professor striding to the front of the room while saying loudly to the room, "Sorry I'm late. For those of you that don't know, I am Professor Wilkins." She pauses as she reaches the front of the room. "I am going to jump right into teaching because I'm sure that everyone here has already heard the lectures. Especially if you're a Gryffindor and just had Transfiguration. 'Pay attention, don't cheat, all that stuff'"

We all—all being only the Gryffindor's—chuckle at her joke. She was right of course, McGonagall had given us quite a talking too before she did any teaching.

"Anyway," she says as she reaches the front of the room, "First off we're going to do a  _very_  basic lesson on werewolves and how to heal wounds from a werewolf. Who can tell me about Lycanthropy?"

I raise my hand and announce to the class loudly, "Lycanthropy is used to describe a man who turns into a near wolf on the full moon. However, lycanthropy is actually a term for someone who fantasises about being a werewolf and thus the correct term for the condition of being a werewolf is actually werewolfry."

She pauses for a second before composing herself, "That's correct. 15 points to Gryffindor."

I smile to myself smugly before spacing out again, like I've been doing in almost all of my classes. Instead of paying attention, I think about how I can get on the quidditch team without James knowing. I could probably try to talk to the professor after class. . . . 

I pause my wandering mind when I hear everyone slowly start to pack up.

"Class dismissed, no homework!" the professor yells when she notices everyone packing. "We'll go over this again once more and that will be it. You'll learn more about werewolf's during your O.W.L. curriculum."

"That was pretty interesting, I think Defense Against the Dark Arts may be one of my favourite classes," James says.

"Ugh, all that teacher did was talk for hours, how am I supposed to remember all that?" Sirius complains.

"Get used to it Sirius, this is going to be our lives for the next seven years," I tell him as I sling my bag over my shoulder.

"You're one to talk, you weren't even slightly paying attention."

I feel my cheeks turning pink. "I was too!" I respond defyingly, even though I hadn't been paying attention.

Remus scoffs, "If you were paying attention then how do you cure werewolf bites."

I roll my eyes, "A mixture of silver and dittany will seal the wound, but there is no cure for  _werewolfry_. Now let's go, everyone who wasn't quizzing me has already left and we've got to get to flying lessons."

"Race you," James cocks an eyebrow at me, daring me.

I consider it for a minute, I could probably beat him "3 galleons."

He pauses for a fraction of a second before saying, "Deal.

"Ready, set, GO!" he announces suddenly.

I take off, running as quickly as I can. I can hear Sirius and Remus jogging to keep up with us. I feel the air whipping through my hair as we wind around the castle. He's running just barely ahead of me, but he's getting cocky and I have a little trick up my sleeve. As I see the castle door's getting closer I see James start to slow down, a classic mistake.

Using my last bit of energy I push all my energy into my legs and, ignoring how difficult it's getting for me to breathe, reach the door a second before he does.

"I won!" I smirk at him.

He scowls at me and throws three galleons at me out of his pocket. "How?"

"Magic," I respond with a smile as I snatch them out of the air.

"Okay you two, we're going to be late if you two keep up your bickering," Remus says as he gets to the door.

We run onto the field just barely on time. The Slytherin's are already on the field along with a still fuming Lily. When notices us across the field she glares at us before returning back to her conversation with Alice and Marlene.

We take our places by the brooms as the Professor strides onto the field. "Good afternoon. There will be no fooling around in this class, do you understand? If you don't do what you're told you will not be allowed here anymore. This class is a privilege," she pauses and everyone nods.

"Alright then, everyone step up to a broom and place your right hand above it and say 'up' very clearly."

I step towards a broom and along with everyone else yell, "UP!"

My broom soars right into my hand, but no one else's does, not James, not Sirius, no ones. James looks deflated and he scowls. "Up!" he yells more forcefully.

"Remember, be clear, distinctive, and put power behind your words," the Professor reminds everyone.

James gets it on his third try and Sirius on his fourth. Everyone else got it eventually, although Peter seemed to take the longest.

The class passes by relatively quickly, seeing as it's our shortest class. James looked disappointed after learning that we wouldn't get more than a few feet off of the ground for the first few weeks. Despite the fact that I already knew what I was doing, the class wasn't that boring.

"That's it for today!" Professor Hoop calls out at 4:00.

"Come on Rose, let's go to the common room, we don't have any homework yet so we can play exploding snap," Sirius says.

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up," I respond, glancing at the Professor who's making her way across the field.

"Okay . . ." James trails off. "See you in the common room."

After they turn their backs I run to catch up with the professor. "Professor Hoop!" I call out in a half yell, hoping that the boys are far enough away that they don't hear. "Professor Hoop!" I call out again. This time she hears me and turns around. I jog up to her and take a second to catch my breath.

"Professor Hoop, my name's Brittany Hathaway. Professor McGonagall was supposed to talk to you. I'm the girl who's supposed to try out for Seeker. I was told to talk to you."

She smiles, "Ah yes, the first year with supposedly 'insanely good skills'. Yes, well, I can't actually stop you from trying out. Go to the quidditch field on the 11th at 1:30. Marissa McGonagall is the quidditch captain, she'll be holding tryouts."

"Thank you."

"Good luck," she responds. I can't tell if she's being sincere or not. I decide to not worry about that and turn back towards the castle.

I spot Lily standing a yard away, smirking. "What was that about?" she questions.

"Why do you care? Last I checked you thought I was a git?"

She bites her lip and I see her blush, "Yeah, about that, I wanted to say I'm sorry. I guess I was sort of being a bit rude."

I roll my eyes, " _A bit?_ "

"Okay, okay. I was being  _really_  rude," she concedes putting her hands up in surrender. After we both burst out laughing she asks again, "Anyway, what  _was_  that about?" I see through her poorly disguised attempts to change the subject, but just go with it. It's not worth it to ask about her sudden change of heart.

"I'm joining the quidditch team."

"Really?"

"Well if you want to get into specifics I'm trying out to join the team. Either way, you can't tell James."

"Um, not that I would tell him because I really do think he's a git, but why?"

"A bet." I shrug my shoulders at her bewildered face.

"So let me get this right, you're willing to screw over one of your closest friends for a bet?"

"Not screw him over so much as just not tell him the whole truth. It's not like I'm sabotaging him. If he finds out about tryouts than he can try out, I'm just not  _telling_ him. Do you see what I mean?"

"I suppose."

"Oh, about the notes,  _do_ you know how to fix them?"

"No," she sheepishly admits.

"Okay well, I was thinking the revealing charm will reveal invisible ink, and disappearing ink and invisible ink are similar enough. So all we'd have to do is-"

"Is focus on bringing it back, maybe a different inflection of words!"

"Is it a just a Gryffindor thing to cut people off in the middle of their sentences, or does everyone in this entire school do it?"

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just so happy and grateful for your help."

"Yeah, yeah," I mutter. "Let's go see if we can do it now, but we've got to be careful or else the boys will force me to play exploding snap with them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is like a really boring chapter and I'm sooooo sorry. I just.... Ugh. I don't know how to accurately portray the pain I feel. This is a prequel so I have to skip through like 3 years in under 30 chapters and so far I've written 9 chapters and literally I'm only to like halfway through the 1st year. At the same time as keeping it short, I need to slowly ease you into them being like best friends. I need to keep it entertaining yet short and concise. I need it to have every important event yet also capture the spirit of the fun that they had.
> 
> In short, ughhhhh. Just... it's impossible, to say the least. Please, if you think this story could just do without this chapter trust me when I say I'll delete it in a heartbeat (not really, I'll have to put some thought into it, but...).
> 
> Anyway, sorry it's boring, hope you liked it anyway, please vote.


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